New Lives for Nazi-Era Bunkers

German Agency Aims to Sell Shelters; Need for Respect

This World War II bunker near Düsseldorf is being converted into apartments.
Cadman GmbH

By

Harriet Torry

Jan. 22, 2013 2:25 p.m. ET

The German agency in charge of property belonging to the state is looking to sell concrete bunkers built during the Nazi era to real-estate developers.

But a number of the bunkers were deliberately built on the sites of synagogues destroyed by the Nazi regime. Finding a respectful yet practical use for the massive shelters today is a challenge.

Of the 150 bunkers held by the Bundesanstalt für Immobilienaufgaben, or BIMA, at least four are known to have been built on former synagogue sites. In Frankfurt, for example, there is a bunker on the site once occupied by the Friedberger Anlage synagogue. The sale of that bunker is being negotiated by BIMA and the city. While BIMA is asking €2.8 million ($3.7 million), the future use of the bunker hasn't been determined.

ENLARGE

For a project called Papillion, this World War II bunker near Düsseldorf will be developed into apartments -- but others built on the sites of destroyed synagogues raise questions of appropriateness.
Cadman

The sale of a bunker built on the site of a former synagogue in the city of Braunschweig in Lower Saxony also is currently being negotiated. BIMA says it can't comment on the sale price since it is still in negotiation with a buyer working on behalf of the local Jewish community, which aims to use it for exhibitions and events for a synagogue nearby.

Finding a use for a former bunker with such a grim historical legacy can be difficult. Some have been turned into memorials. A bunker built on the site of the Siegen synagogue in North-Rhine Westphalia, destroyed on Kristallnacht, a pogrom in November 1938, is now a museum about National Socialism.

Some bunkers on former synagogue sites already have been converted. A bunker in the Hamburg square that once housed the Bornplatz synagogue is home to several Hamburg University faculties, with a memorial marking the site of the destroyed place of worship. Another, on the site of Düsseldorf's destroyed synagogue, was used as a hotel in the years after World War II. Now, the site—the bunker has been removed—houses Handelsblatt, a major business newspaper.

Not all bunkers were built on such sites, including 70 that were the subject of a recent architectural competition scouting for concepts to convert them for civilian use.

However, Germany's bunkers largely date from the Third Reich and some were built with forced labor. After the war, some bunkers left were kept on standby in case of another war or a nuclear disaster. In 2007, authorities took all the bunkers out of service.

On the flip side, above-ground bunkers, rather than those built underground, are often handsomely proportioned, neoclassical structures. Given their concrete walls and roofs, they are soundproof and sturdy enough to add floors on top. Built mainly to protect civilians, they are often in prime inner-city locations.

For bunkers that weren't built on the sites of destroyed synagogues, several examples of conversions already exist. A bunker across from the Deutsches Theater in downtown Berlin, built in 1942 as an air-raid shelter, became a Soviet prison after the war. It also was used to store tropical fruit, and then for a techno club.

In 2003, advertising magnate Christian Boros bought the bunker to house his contemporary-art collection. The conversion took five years, and involved removing the roof, more than 10 feet thick, with a diamond saw, as well as extracting interior walls to make space for the art. Mr. Boros added a penthouse apartment with a roof garden and pool.

Since the bunkers are phenomenally sturdy, building floors on top of them is an option. An example is the Exzenterhaus in Bochum, in western Germany. Fifteen floors have been built on top of a cylindrical bunker near the city's main station. The top three floors have been rented to a legal and an accounting firm, according to Thomas Durchlaub, spokesman for Exzenterhaus Bochum GmbH & Co. KG. He says the city of Bochum sold the bunker for €670,000, but declined to comment on the cost of the conversion.

Property developer Euroboden GmbH next year aims to complete a smaller conversion of an above-ground bunker in Munich's Ungererstrasse, which is set to become office space, three apartments and a penthouse loft. The cost of the conversion is expected to be between €3.5 million and €4 million, says Euroboden's chief executive, Stefan Höglmaier.

Living in a converted World War II bunker isn't for everyone. Buyers tend to be individualists, says Gerd Schmitz, who is running a luxury apartment project in a leafy district of Düsseldorf. The €17 million conversion, called Papillon, is the brainchild of two local investors in their 40s who grew up in the area and played in the bunker as children.

The bunker, which was never completed, offers an "outstanding physical construction shell," says Mr. Schmitz, who plans to cut away parts of the bunker and add new construction to create 24 apartments. The development includes large terraces and a car elevator that allows residents to park on their balconies.

Construction will start in early 2013 and is slated for completion by late 2014. Prices range from €3,000 to over €6,000 per square meter, implying the top-end apartments will cost well over €1 million.

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